HAMMOND, La. – Ronnie Harrison drained a jumper with less than six seconds to give the East Texas A&M University men’s basketball team a 70-69 win on Monday night at Southeastern Louisiana in the University Center.
Southeastern, who had a lead as big as 10 in the first half, trailed 68-64 with 1:45 left in the game, but then hit a three-pointer to come within one. Isaiah Gaines hit a jumper to put SLU up 69-68 with 14 seconds to go.
Following a timeout, Harrison (Forney) knocked down the jumper, and the game-winning three-point try on the other end by Southeastern was no good as time expired.
East Texas A&M picked up its first win over a Southland Conference opponent on the season and is now 6-5 on the season and 1-1 against SLC opponents, while Southeastern falls to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
ETAMU has won two of its last three in Hammond over the past three years. The sixth win surpasses last season’s mark of just five wins on the season.
To begin the game, Southeastern scored the first six points and opened a 14-4 lead at the 15:07 mark of the first half. East Texas A&M scored 14 of the next 18 and tied the game at 18 at the 8:38 mark on a three-pointer by Harrison.
The first lead in the game for East Texas A&M came with 6:31 left in the first half as part of a 7-0 run on a shot from deep by Damian Garcia (Houston – Dobie). Southeastern pulled ahead by as much as five late in the half, but fouled Vinny Sigona (Prestonwood Christian Academy) at the buzzer. Sigona knocked down all three shots at the line to tie the game at 33 going into halftime.
East Texas A&M scored the first five of the second half, but Southeastern came back to tie the game at 41. An 8-0 run gave East Texas A&M a 49-41 lead with 13:46 to go, it’s largest of the game. SLU held East Texas A&M without a point for a stretch of six minutes and took a 56-53 lead at the 6:06 mark.
The game was tied at 64 on a three-pointer by SLU with 2:07 left. On the other end, Sigona was fouled on a three-point attempt. He drained the three-pointer and completed the four-point play at the line to put the Lions up by four with 1:45 to play.
Sigona scored the final three points of the first half and then scored 13 in the second half to total 16 in the game, going 4 for 7 from deep and 4 for 4 at the line. Harrison added 16 points and nine rebounds as well as two blocks and two steals. Gianni Hunt (Lakewood, Calif.) totaled 10 points as well as three rebounds and four assists.
East Texas A&M shot 10 for 21 from deep in the game, including 7 for 10 in the second half.
Four of five starters scored in double digits for Southeastern with Gaines scoring 17 along with seven rebounds to lead the way.
UP NEXT: Non-conference play closes out on Sunday for East Texas A&M at Texas A&M. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. at Reed Arena.
